Boston Red Sox Start Season Strong Despite Injuries and Some Weak Performances

The Boston Red Sox have gotten off to a great start here in 2008.

They sit atop the American League Eastern Division over the surprising Tampa Bay Rays by a game and a half. The Red Sox have won seven out of their past 10 games, making them 24-16. 

However, they have withstood slow starts from David Ortiz and Julio Lugo. In addition, Manny Ramirez has recently cooled down after his red-hot start.

Ortiz started off with a .184 batting average, going hitless in 11 out of 24 games in April. He turned it around in May, going hitless just once in 10 games, including six multi-hit efforts. It all pans out to a .241 average, with seven home runs and 28 RBI.

For the better part of the month of April, the stories of the Red Sox consisted of Ortiz's slump, Ramirez's hot start in April, the great start of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the good consistent outings provided by Jon Lester and Josh Beckett.

The one story that not many people outside of Red Sox Nation know about, is the scorching start by Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis is hitting .322, leading the team with eight home runs and 30 RBI.

He also has a .400 on-base-percentage and a 22:20 strikeout to walk ratio. Not to mention, he has gotten at least one hit in every game since May 2. And don't forget his error-free defense for 177 consecutive games.

Youkilis is probably one of, if not the, most unheralded player in the Major Leagues.

But the hot start of the Red Sox is not due entirely to Youkilis. The Red Sox pitching rotation has done it's job in helping the team get off to this great start.

Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester have all done their share, despite the early injury to Curt Schilling. 

Matsuzaka is 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 47.2 innings pitched. He has undergone a significant change from this point last season, when he was 4-2 with a 4.83 ERA in 45.0 innings pitched.

Not only has his ERA dropped by almost 2.5 runs, but he hasn't lost a game yet, and so far this year hitters have hit below .200 against him. At this point last year, hitters were hitting at least .242 off of him.

The biggest difference in Matsuzaka has been the fact that he's pitching around the plate a lot more this year than last. He has a total of 30 walks and 40 strikeouts so far this season.

In addition to the contributions made by Youkilis and the starting rotation, the contributions by the young players at the Major League level has also been a big cause for the Red Sox's start.

Future star outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is hitting .268 with a .378 on-base-percentage. He also has contributed three home runs, 13 RBI, 14 stolen bases and a team leading 29 runs scored.

Fellow 24-year-old Dustin Pedroia also has been making large contributions this season. Pedroia is hitting .305 with one home run, 20 RBI and 21 runs scored.

Adding in so far the brief contributions made by top prospects Justin Masterson and Jed Lowrie, both of whom are expected to make the type of debuts that Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz made last season for the Red Sox. 

Let's not forget that J.D. Drew has been somewhat productive as well this season, hitting .284 with three home runs, 17 RBI and 25 runs scored.

All of these factors, combined with the fact that Ramirez and Ortiz are not completely in sync yet, Mike Lowell has just came back, added to the thought of Schilling pitching in the postseason, the Red Sox look like a rather large threat. Hopefully this threat will make a deep run in October once again this year, and also in years to come.